Wednesday, August 30, 2006

India: Targeted killings of members of minority groups must stop

Amnesty International is gravely concerned about the killing of at least 35 members of the Hindu minority in two targeted attacks in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. At least a further ten individuals are reported to be in critical condition as a result of the attacks.

Amnesty International calls on the Government of Jammu and Kashmir to ensure the prompt and independent investigation of the incidents with a view to bringing the perpetrators to justice. The organisation also appeals to armed groups to refrain from violence against civilians, including torture and deliberate killings. Deliberate attacks on civilians can never be justified and are prohibited under international law.

The attacks occurred just two days before scheduled talks between Indian Prime Minister Manmoham Singh and leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), a coalition of two dozen separatist groups, which begin on 3 May. Separately, a new round of talks between India and Pakistan began on 2 May to discuss further confidence-building measures including the opening up of more border crossing points and movement of goods across the border.

Government spokespersons said that an armed group had carried out the killings to register their protest at the talks. No group has claimed responsibility. A spokesman for the Hizbul Mujahideen, one of the largest armed groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir, called the attacks a "deep-rooted conspiracy to defame militants". He said the attacks did not serve the "liberation movement" and blamed it on Indian intelligence agents. Army spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Vijay Batra rejected this allegation as "utterly unthinkable”. Indian security services had warned of an increase in violence in the lead-up to Wednesday's talks.

Gunmen reportedly stormed two different locations in Hindu dominated areas of Thawa village in Doda district on the night of 30 April, herding the men into the headman's house. A surviving victim later said that the armed men had come wearing police and army uniforms and had told villagers that security officials wanted to hold a meeting. When the assembled men questioned why they wree made to wait, over 20 men were shot dead at point-blank range. At least a further 11 men were injured. Slightly earlier, armed men in nearby Udhampur district abducted 13 Hindu villagers; their bodies were later found in nearby woods. Following the attacks, hundreds of extra army troops were rushed to the state to trace the perpetrators of the killings.

Background

Local observers believe that between 45,000 and 60,000 people have died since an armed insurgency began in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir in 1989. Some 30 armed opposition groups are active in the state, all of which oppose Indian rule: some want independence, while others want to secede to Pakistan. As a result of the conflict, thousands of Hindus have fled the state and have for years been living in camps near Jammu and New Delhi.

Peace talks began more than two years ago between India and Pakistan, which both claim sovereignty over the entirety of the currently divided region of Kashmir. The talks brought about a ceasefire along the Line of Control between the two parts of Kashmir in November 2003; led to bus connections between the two sides of the border; and involved a series of talks between the two sides beginning in 2004. On several occasions during this process, armed groups have used violence in attempts to stall the talks which they oppose. Amnesty International has repeatedly called on them to cease using violence against civilians.

Armed groups have been accused of killing some 350 Hindus and Sikhs in the past six years in the state, with some 116 members of the minority communities reportedly killed in the year 2000 alone.

Since the beginning of peace talks, human rights violations committed by state agents have declined somewhat, though arbitrary detention, abuse of preventive detention laws, torture, deaths in custody and “disappearances” continue to be reported. Violence by armed groups does not appear to have substantively reduced during this period.

Slide show of Most famous Domestic brands in China

This list did include many important domestic brands and companies in China. But apprantly it missed a lot much bigger, much more involved in international business and also much more famous brands. Such as:Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Banking and finnance)Changhong (Home appliance), Konka (Home appliance), Aigo (For digital devices), China Railway Construction Corporation (Construction), China State Construction Engineering Corporation (Construction), BaoSteel (Iron & Steel), China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) (Shipbuilding), China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) (Shipbuilding), SMIC( IC fab), China Shipping Container Lines (Marine Shipping), China Overseas Shipping Company (COSCO) (marine Shipping)QQ (The world largest instant messanger and chatting software and service provider)

............................Some new brands such as:Chery (auto)

Readers can google in the Internet for details of these companies if you are interested.

Monday, August 28, 2006

50 million missing Indian girls

http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=2614

In recent years, the world has been shocked by the Taliban's ruthless suppression of women in Afghanistan, the practice of female genital mutilation in parts of Africa and the abuse of female domestic labour in places like Saudi Arabia. Yet it is the world's largest democracy that is the undeclared winner in the contest of violence against women, say Swami Agnivesh, Rama Mani and Angelika Kster-Lossack writing in the International Herald Tribune.

In India, female foeticide - the sex-selective abortion of girls - has led to an alarming "gender gap" in the country's population. In 1990, when the census showed that there were 25 million more males than females in India, the government reacted by introducing a law making it illegal to detect the sex of a foetus through ultrasound examination. Yet by 2001, the gender gap had risen to 35 million, and now experts estimate it as high as 50 million.

The practice of female infanticide has a long history in India: Because of the widespread cultural preference for sons, many baby girls used to be killed after birth. But modern technology, particularly the ultrasound machine, has made it easier for parents, and highly profitable for doctors, to practice female foeticide without great risk of detection and punitive legal action.

Assumed to be prevalent among Hindus, because of their custom requiring male progeny to perform cremation rites, female foeticide is in fact found today to be equally rampant among Sikhs, Muslims and Christians.

Likewise, the practice has usually been presumed to be most prevalent among the poor and illiterate, because of spiraling dowry demands made on brides by the groom's family, as well as other traditional prejudices. However, recent UN and Indian studies reveal that female foeticide is today most frequent among the rich and highly educated. One study maps the increased frequency of female foeticide with rising levels of education - lowest among women with a fifth-grade education and highest among women with university degrees.

The consequences of female foeticide and the resulting gender gap are already unfolding: Girls are being trafficked from impoverished neighboring countries like Bangladesh and Nepal or from disadvantaged or tribal areas in India and sold into marriage for the equivalent of about US$200 (in Haryana State, a bull costs $1,000).

With 50 million girls already missing today, the result of this dangerous practice is ineluctable: A society without women, even if today it is the world's second-most populous, is doomed to eventual extinction.

Early this year, after Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss expressed despair at the government's inability to reverse this calamitous situation despite legislation and other policies, religious leaders of all faiths convened an "Interfaith People's Yatra (or Journey) of Compassion," a kind of traveling protest march, on female foeticide. It was organized by the Arya Samaj, a reformist social-religious movement founded in 1875, with the support of the central and state governments, Unicef and Unifem.

Earlier this month, participants in the Yatra traversed India's worst-affected northern states in their motor convoy, generating a mounting wave of awareness and action among religious and political leaders, civic activists, women's groups, students and teachers.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Maoist rebels spread across rural India

No matter how loudly Indian government says that India has democracy ande freedom, it is a failed government if people have to take up weapons to pursue justice.

It is very very wrong if India government wants to use military to deal with internal uprising. China's KMT government was a example. The KMT government had 8 million troops and it still lost that civil war and had to flle to Taiwan island.

The most powerful weapons to deal with the internal issues is bring justice to the ordinary people.

A sprawling, yet largely hidden, war is raging in India's rural countryside, and after years of ignoring it, Delhi is signalling a military counteroffensive. India's Maoist insurgents, also called Naxalites, have expanded their area of operations from just four states 10 years ago to half of India's 28 states today. In 165 districts, they claim to run parallel "People's" governments. This year alone, fighting between rebel and government forces has claimed more than 500lives - many civilian.

Monday, August 21, 2006

India and China Sail in Different Boats

This arrticle was written by Shailendra Kakani, the Research Head of Commodity Research Group and the Managing Editor of www.commodityresearch.in.

Chinese economy is already three times larger than the Indian one. China has seven times more Internet users and ten times more mobile phone users. While China has a trade surplus amounting to $200 billion with the USA alone, India's entire external trade amounts to the same figure. While China is registering trade surplus every year, India's trade deficits are growing to disastrous levels. And most importantly, Inflation in China is almost zero while in India even the government figures put it at 5+%, while the public estimates are anywhere above ten per cent.

More than 200 million Indians live in slums and shanties bereft of any sanitation facilities. Millions of school students don't see a teacher for weeks. More than 70 million children stay out of the school and work as child labour, often in very hazardous industries. By a former Prime Minister's own admission "269 million Indians are food insecure."

The phone user numbers are outdated. China today has 440 million cell phone users and 350 million fixed line phones in use. India's cellular phone users passed 100 million this year and around 48 million phones are connected by fixed lines.

While in China only 10% children under five are born underweight, in India 's score is 53% - far higher than Mexico's 8% and Pakistan's 26%. The UN MMR numbers for India (540) are several times higher than those for other developing countries like China (56), Brazil (260), Thailand (44), Mexico (83) or even Sri Lanka (92). India has far lower percentage of antenatal coverage (60%) compared to China. According to a study by Arati Rao "In India only 43% of deliveries involve a skilled birth attendant compared to between 86% and 99% in Mexico, China, Sri Lanka, Brazil and Thailand." Not surprising why China scores 0.718 on the human development index and why India clocks in a measly 0.571.

Even today many Chinese criticize the reform in the public health system in China. But China is still far ahead of India in any index conserning the public health. China even did better than todays' India since China had the low cost but functioning "barefoot doctor " system that covered almost every corner of the country. Unfortunately, system a good system was "reformed".

China now produces over 450 million tonnes of food grains, while India continues to struggle to maintain 200 million ton record achieved a couple of years back.

A mere 21% of all farms in India have access to irrigation; remaining depend on rain gods to eke out one single crop. Farmers are crying because they are being supplied with rotten seeds, spurious insecticides, and last but not the least, no information.

China's record grain production of around 500 million tons was reached in late 1990s. India's record production should be around 250 million tons if I am not wrong. China has a much better irrigation system that covers around 80% of farming land largely thanks for hard work before the reform (Many may not believe it due to both Chinese and western propaganda, but it is true that most of Chinese irrigation system in China was completed before the reform.) China also has invested a lot in agriculture technology research. Today, China is a leader in hybrid rice and gene modified grains.

A recent article in Economic Times quoted the latest Development Policy Review of the World Bank which says that the typical doctor at a primary health centre in Delhi is less competent than in Tanzania, and the chances of his recommending harmful treatment are 50:50. "One in five children drop out before class V. Teacher absenteeism is rampant, and half the Standard V children in five states cannot read Class II texts. Water supply is just four hours a day in Delhi, 2.5 in Bangalore and 1.5 in Chennai, against round-the-clock supply in Jakarta or Colombo. Electricity supply is terrible, and 30% of it is stolen with impunity."

Finally, the author said:

What I wish to achieve by writing this article is simple: India and China cannot be - and should not be - clubbed together. They were in the same boat fifty years back; when India was just freed from the colonial rule and China was reconstructing after the Second World War. But as of today there is only one valid comparison among them: that the two have the largest populations to support. Apart from this there is nothing which forms a common denominator among the two nations. The way things are progressing in India, Bangalore will never become another Beijing and Bombay will never become another Shanghai. It is time the international media readjusts its perspective and present a more honest view to its readers.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Laptop Batteries Made by Sony May Not Only Impact Dell

Many of us knew that Dell is currently recalling 4.1 million batteries that were used in various Dell laptops manufactured in recent years. The batteries caused several fires in recent months worldwide. Sony and Dell acknowledged that all those batteries were made by Sony.

According to this report, Sony's laptop batteries were used not only in Dell's laptop, but also Sony and other brands. But Sony is now only helping Dell to recall the pro-fire batteries.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

UK's Times misleading Readers in Bird Flu Case in China

For readers who don't read the article carefully, throughly will take it for granted that Chinese government covered up the case recently discovered by several Chinese scientists when they did re-examination of SARS death cases.

As stated in the article:

The man, identified only by his surname, Shi, was initially thought to have severe acute respiratory syndrome, but recent tests performed with the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed the cause as bird flu.

The article also said that Chinese government did not know this case until the doctors wrote the article about it.

So. how this can be titled" China admits concealing first human bird flu death"?

But this case does reveal something that Chinese government needs to take care of.

It is very possible that the case was misdiagnosed. SARS was new and there was no human bird flu reported in the world at that time. The first human bird flu case was reported in 2004 as stated in this article.

But when those scientists realiszed the 2003 case was actually bird flu when re-staudy the case recently. Did they reported the new findings to the government before they wrote the article for a international magazine? If they did not, they should be punished as they ignored their responsiblityas doctors. If they reported to the government, then some officials should take responsiblity.

China Builds a Better Internet

This is a interesting article about IPV6 internet development. To see the full article from here.

In research labs throughout China, engineers are busy working on another project that the Chinese government plans to unveil at the Olympics: China's Next Generation Internet (CNGI), a faster, more secure, more mobile version of the current one.

CNGI is the centerpiece of China's plan to steal leadership away from the United States in all things Internet and information technology.

The strategy, outlined in China's latest five-year plan, calls for the country to transition its economy from one based almost entirely on manufacturing to one that produces its own scientific and technological breakthroughs—using a new and improved version of today's dominant innovation platform, the Internet. "CNGI is the culmination of this revolutionary plan" to turn China into the world's innovation capital, says Wu Hequan, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the chairman of the CNGI Expert Committee, the group overseeing the project. "We will use it as a way to break through and be competitive in the global economic market."

According to Chinese and U.S. sources familiar with the project, the Chinese government has already invested close to $200 million in CNGI and has created a special office of the State Council dedicated solely to the project. China's major telecommunications companies, each of which is responsible for building a portion of the network, have also spent hundreds of millions of dollars so far. Today, CNGI connects 100 universities, 100 research institutes and 100 companies in 20 cities. At the Beijing Olympics in 2008, China plans to use CNGI for everything from broadcasting the events to controlling the Olympic facilities.

Actually, China has invested in IPV6 projects for long time according to this article,

Main IPv6 projects in China1998 China Education and Research Network (“CERNET”) starts research on IPv6.1999 BII Group begins R&D for commercialization of IPv62000 BII Group runs the test-bed for commercialization of IPv6, interconnects with 6BONE and others.2001 BII Group and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications start a joint trial project.2002 March RITT and BII Group start 6TNet (IPv6 Telecom Trial Network) project.2002 May China Telecom Hunan Province starts IPv6 trial network.2002 October China Telecom starts IPv6 trial projects in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.End of 2002 China Netcom, China Mobile, China Unicom prepare for IPv6 trial project2003 March Beijing IPv6 area network project starts.

China put a large scale backbone network CERNET2 in operation in 2004. This nestwork CERTNET2 is purely based on the Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) technology, which the organization claims was the first and would soon become a standard for others to follow. CERTNET2 was called the biggest network running the next generation Internet since it connected 25 universities in about 20 cities. Tests had proven that the network was capable of reaching speeds of about 40 gigabits per second, setting a record for real-world applications, while the average speeds were about 2-10 gigabits for universities. It was planned that 100 universities would be connected by the network. (source)